Governor’s Council Approves 2 More Pardons
The Governor’s Council voted on Friday to pardon two convicts, the latest in a string of clemency requests recommended by Governor Deval Patrick and granted by the council as Patrick’s time in the State House winds down.
The council voted 7-1 to pardon True-See Allah, formerly known as Troy C. Watson, who was convicted for his role in a 1989 shooting that paralyzed the victim, who died in 2010. He was not the shooter, however. Allah has worked in the sheriff’s inmate release program for years, and his pardon was backed by top state law enforcement officials such as Suffolk DA Daniel F. Conley, The Boston Globe reported.
The council also voted 5-3 Friday to pardon Thomas Schoolcraft, who was convicted of breaking and entering in 2006. Both Allah and Schoolcraft have been out of prison for years, but the pardons effectively remove those convictions from their records.
Friday’s pardons are among the four granted by Patrick in recent months.
In December, the council approved pardons for Jeffrey Snyder and Guy James Coraccio, The Boston Herald reported. Snyder was 17 when he was convicted on drugs charges, including possession of marijuana with intent to distribute, in 1995. He served two years in prison. Between the ages of 14 and 21, Coraccio, now 64, was convicted of multiple larceny and motor vehicle violations.
The pardons of Allah, Schoolcraft, Snyder, and Coraccio are the only pardons of Patrick’s term and are the first granted in the state since acting Governor Jane Swift issued seven in 2002.
The council also voted to commute the sentence of Deanne Hamilton, 49, who was convicted of cocaine distribution in 2007. That was the first commutation granted in the state since Governor William Weld commuted Joseph Salvati’s wrongful murder conviction in 1997. The conviction will still remain on Hamilton’s record.
And, in case you were wondering, Mark Wahlberg still awaits the outcome of his pardon request for a 1988 assault conviction, which he filed in November. The victim in that assault, Johnny Trinh, forgives Wahlberg and said that he would like to see his pardon granted.
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